CORSNING
Tech Sergeant
After lining up the numbers, I was suprised to see how pretty much even these two birds were. I'm not an expert on the Spitfire. I'm not real sure of its range on internal fuel at this time. The Kingcobra D could go 700 mls. on internal fuel and a max. of 2,000 mls. ferry. Any way the numbers worked out like this (figures in parenthesis are estimated):
Height....Spitfire.........P-63D
meters...mph/fpm......mph/fpm
......0.....366/(5080)..388/4,970
.1,000....389/(5035)..395/4,600
.2,000....397/4,985...405/4,540
.3,000....412/4,485...410/4,410
.4,000....416/(4095)..426/4,280
.5,000..(418)/4,070...435/4,120
.6,000..(432)/4,025...444/3,860
.7,000....445/3,485...451/3,470
.8,000....447/2,940...447/2,980
.9,000....444/2,410...441/2,560
10,000...437/1,910...433/2,120
11,000...427/1,360...425/1,680
I'm not sure what happened to the Spit's speed at 5km. It should read 418. The following is from America's Hundred Thousand by Francis H. Dean concerning the P-63:
MANEUVERING: Exceptionally easy to perform at all altitudes at which the aircraft would normally operate and a new pilot would quickly feel at ease doing them. The A/C responds rapidly to ailerons at all speeds.
TURNING ABILITY: About the same as the P-38J using (boosted) maneuvering flaps. The P-63 could get on the P-51B's tail in 3 to 4 turns and the P-63 performance got relitively better with increasing turning speed. With flaps down part way it was superior to most anything else in the air.
RANGE: Internal fuel placed in the wing only seriously limited the P-63's distance capability after combat at midpoint in a radius mission.
ROLLING: Action was rapid with light but positive forces. No effort and it would roll exactly on its longitudinal axis.
ZOOM CLIMB: Better than P38J or P-47D-20. Not quite as good as the P-51B.
Height....Spitfire.........P-63D
meters...mph/fpm......mph/fpm
......0.....366/(5080)..388/4,970
.1,000....389/(5035)..395/4,600
.2,000....397/4,985...405/4,540
.3,000....412/4,485...410/4,410
.4,000....416/(4095)..426/4,280
.5,000..(418)/4,070...435/4,120
.6,000..(432)/4,025...444/3,860
.7,000....445/3,485...451/3,470
.8,000....447/2,940...447/2,980
.9,000....444/2,410...441/2,560
10,000...437/1,910...433/2,120
11,000...427/1,360...425/1,680
I'm not sure what happened to the Spit's speed at 5km. It should read 418. The following is from America's Hundred Thousand by Francis H. Dean concerning the P-63:
MANEUVERING: Exceptionally easy to perform at all altitudes at which the aircraft would normally operate and a new pilot would quickly feel at ease doing them. The A/C responds rapidly to ailerons at all speeds.
TURNING ABILITY: About the same as the P-38J using (boosted) maneuvering flaps. The P-63 could get on the P-51B's tail in 3 to 4 turns and the P-63 performance got relitively better with increasing turning speed. With flaps down part way it was superior to most anything else in the air.
RANGE: Internal fuel placed in the wing only seriously limited the P-63's distance capability after combat at midpoint in a radius mission.
ROLLING: Action was rapid with light but positive forces. No effort and it would roll exactly on its longitudinal axis.
ZOOM CLIMB: Better than P38J or P-47D-20. Not quite as good as the P-51B.
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